Artistic dreamscapes

Artistically the game is beautiful looking. The venues are fantastically modeled with little details like a police officer watching the concert at Shea Stadium from the field to the street below the Apple Corps building slowly filling up with people as the bands plays their rooftop set. It is all accentuated by the artistic design of the likenesses of the famous quartet. Despite their cartoon look, their movements don't feel exaggerated and everything feels authentic.

To accommodate the fact that The Beatles stopped touring in 1966 and effectively became a studio band, Harmonix has filled the studio sessions of their career with artistic dreamscapes. The dreamscapes are artistic interpretations of the music set in a fanciful world, for instance Yellow Submarine places the band underwater with a yellow submarine. A good portion of these dreamscapes work very well but there are a handful that feel somewhat generic with flashing lights reminiscent of early music videos backlighting the band as they play, for the most part though the dreamscapes add an air of individuality to each specific song, something that no other Rock Band product has had before it.

Sadly this scripted aspect of the game is also one of its biggest detriments. As cool as the dreamscapes are, the simple fact is that every time a player picks a song in The Beatles: Rock Band they are getting the exact same visual representation of the song on screen, couple that with the fact that the entire story mode can be completed in roughly three and a half hours and you are left with a very artistic but possibly fleeting experience. It won't be the same for everyone, for example I expect hardcore Beatles fans to never get tired of the dreamscapes and will continue to play the game long after more casual dabblers have let go.

Fantastic set

Three and a half hours does not amount to a lot of play-time and while some gamers will be more than happy with the fact that they can finally play Beatles songs in a music game, the rest of us require a little more substance. Fortunately Harmonix has added a couple aspects to try and keep us playing and for anyone with an interest in the history of The Beatles these aspects will be right up your alley. Each song in Story mode has two pictures attached to it that players will unlock by hitting certain point thresholds and earning enough photos will unlock historical video footage. Each picture and/or video reveals some history behind that time in The Beatles career and for a gamer like me a lot of the information helped to provide me with a deeper understanding and ultimately appreciation of the band.

When all is said and done though, regardless of additions to basic gameplay, The Beatles: Rock Band needs to hold its weight as a party game and I can confidently say that it does. I personally haven't had this much fun with a music rhythm game in a multiplayer setting since the original Rock Band introduced everyone to the band play concept. The Beatles: Rock Band is a fantastic set. It is a musical history lesson and a generational bridge that will introduce a whole new generation to the most popular and iconic band in the world.

Beathlemania

At the beginning of this write up I said that The Beatles just never clicked for me. While playing The Beatles: Rock Band it finally clicked for me. Nobody can force you into The Beatles, they are just something that you have to experience for yourself on your own terms. For me The Beatles: Rock Band turned me into a fan of the band, I have a feeling many more will be going this latest round of Beatlemania.